Wanted, Wolverine, The Dark Knight: June 18th Comic Reel

Director Timur Bekmambetov told Sci Fi Wire that he’d list the A-lister among the benefits of his first Anglophone film. “Yeah, there’s no Angelina Jolie in Russia,” Bekmambetov said. “And Morgan Freeman. And everybody speaks Russian. … Of course, I had the best dream crew, the best people in the industry … It was a collaboration. I was surprised, because, of course, we know all these myths about how bad studio people [are] and how they’re torturing creative people. It’s bulls–t. It’s not true. With me, I mean. Maybe somewhere, I don’t know. Maybe I was lucky, or it’s a dream. We are here, and nothing [bad] happened.”

Bekmambetov also spoke to Newsarama about the Eminem rumors that kickstarted the project. “I didn’t picture Eminem to play Wesley. I saw him differently,” he said. “I think Eminem is not representative enough for a big worldwide release. James McAvoy is going to be easy to identify with.”

Superhero Hype and IGN got a new package mailed to them including a new copy of The Gotham Times and even a mask and cowl, boxes from Gotham City Pizza and a link (user name “Nycticeius” and password “merritt”) focused on Citizens for Batman.

COWBOYS AND ALIENS

Writer Fred Van Lente checked in with CBR News about Robert Downey Jr. possibly joining the adaptation of his work.

INCREDIBLE HULK 2

Director Louis Leterrier told MTV that he wants to take the decision on the sequel’s villain to the fans. “I think that if we get to ‘Hulk 2’ I would go to Comic-Con and ask the crowd of people that actually love the movies, which one would you prefer to see, Samson or the Leader?” Leterrier said. “Both are very interesting. [But] there’s something unstoppable about [Leader] and it’s just not the same thing. It’s just different. The fact that he controls stuff with his mind, I just like that.”

According to Variety, Universal has bought the rights to Vasilis Lolos’ Oni Press graphic novel. The project is set up under producer Barry Josephson’s shingle. Evan Spiliotopoulos is writing the screenplay. Eric Gitter is producing through his Closed on Mondays Entertainment, the producing arm of Oni Press. Josephson Prods. executive Alexander Young will co-produce.

SILVER SURFER

Writer J. Michael Straczynski talked to AMC TV about working on a Norrin Radd screenplay. “I was writing it as ‘FF2’ was about to come out, and the theory was for it to pick up literally the next frame after the ‘FF2’ movie, where you find out why Silver Surfer was there and what happened to him,” Stracyznski said. “We would have seen Galactus, his home world, what happened and him trying to get back there, because now that he’s betrayed Galactus, he’s concerned his home world might be in jeopardy … In the script I come up with some ways to visualize him that are true to the original, but take it one step further using the current CGI technology that we have. So we would have seen him as a character on numerous occasions in the second movie, not inconsistent with the first distant shot of him in that that’s just a way of concealing who and what he really is. Believe me, he would be not at all silly looking.”

HANCOCK

W Magazine has some comments online from their interview with Charlize Theron, talking about why she chose to join the Will Smith production. “[Will] said that there’s this idea within the industry where you do your independent film that’s made for under $2 million, it’s a struggle and then you win your Academy Award for that, because that’s your best work,” Theron said. “And then you do what’s considered these kind of sellout roles in the big blockbusters. And he’s like, ‘Why can’t we do the best work in a big movie that can be a blockbuster?'”

NEXT AVENGERS

Artist Joshua Middleton revealed some of his artwork for the DVD on his blog.

According to Variety, the Jon Favreau-helmed movie helped push Paramount Pictures over the $1 billion mark in international receipts.

KEEPING IT REEL

We can’t do this without you. The rumors, the scoops, the set photos — they’re all fueled by passionate fans emailing in the goods. The ones who ask, “What do you mean your sister’s dating somebody who works for Warner Brothers?” The ones who know the code names of movie projects and scour city permit filings for them. The devoted, the involved. Fans, just like you. Whatever you know, we wanna know, and whether you want your name shouted to the web’s rafters or kept closer than a classified report, we’ve got you covered like a comforter. Broadcasting live from Los Angeles, this is your humble scribe Hannibal Tabu saying thank you for your time and indulgence, and The Hundred and Four are in your room, touching your stuff.